


Strictly Business

by shesaidnomaam



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:08:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29385354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesaidnomaam/pseuds/shesaidnomaam
Summary: Reader is an L-Corp employee, originally having been a senior staff member at a company acquired by L-Corp’s Lena Luthor. When her former staff all present concerns over their newfound treatment, the Reader feels compelled to tell Luthor what she thinks. She’s surprised to know that she’s not the only one with concerns.
Relationships: Lena Luthor/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Strictly Business

It was another day in National City and while many were enjoying the sunshine and pleasant weather, you were in a meeting. Or rather, you were sitting in a chair while your employees hurled complaints and distressed declarations at you. They, like you, had not received the warmest of welcomes. L-Corp had acquired the company you managed, Cyclical, thereby inheriting you and most of those who worked under you. They had started by cutting your budget, yet they expected the same speed of results that your team had been achieving prior to the acquisition. L-Corp wanted to reap the rewards of Cyclical’s tech without shelling out the appropriate funds. Big businesses were like that, and you hadn’t agreed with the acquisition in the first place. However, you hadn’t a say.

“So, when they promised ‘job security’ they meant, 'yeah you can keep doing what you’re doing, but we’re not going to pay you enough for it’?” Said one of your scientists, Rahul. His arms had been crossed in defiance for the past week.

Your leading fission expert had her hands on her hips. “There’s never anyone available when I need to purchase something for the project they asked us to do.”

Another employee groaned, “I need a map to get to the cafeteria.”

“There’s a cafeteria?” Rahul cried.

“What is the problem with the sixteenth floor? I get the fucking stink eye from everyone.”

“They used to have our offices; they got bumped up,” said one of your quieter, more tired employees. He was a hard worker, and he didn’t talk much. You appreciated him immensely.

“And they blame us? Like we had any control over that,” said fission expert Anya. “I’d prefer to be up high - fewer people would wander by my lab. Everyone here is on their phones all the time. They want us to hear their conversations because they’re so important.”

The complaints didn’t stop. They were piled on top of you like an avalanche of animosity. Your own frustrations were made no better by being berated for someone else’s decisions. You were present at department head meetings, but you were not allotted any real amount of time. Cyclical was new, and not the most profitable corporation under L-Corp’s banner. Advocating for your people was important to you, but you didn’t have many opportunities to do so.

With a wave of your hands, you effectively silenced your employees. After a deep breath, you attempted to console your people. Their problems were genuine, and their feelings were valid - some more reasonable than others. For the sake of fitting in, you’d held your tongue. You overlooked your own personal feelings in order to make the most of the situation. However, enough was enough.

“I will arrange for a meeting with the funds allocation head, HR, and,” you stopped and shook your head. “No,” you began again, “I’ll get a meeting with Lena Luthor. No sense in wasting my time asking a bunch of people for things when I can go to the top and I don’t know, make a demanding but firm asshole out of myself.”

“There’s a joke in there about a firm asshole, but I’m not going for it out of respect,” Rahul commented.

“Thanks, Rahul. But the way I see it, Ms. Luthor has plenty of time to go to every event in the city, she can make time to talk about the company she paid half a billion for.”

Rahul wagged a finger like a detective who was cracking a case. It was more of an 'aha’ point versus an accusatory gesture in your direction. “Do you think that Mr. Dunst undersold? Our valuation was well above a billion. I feel cheap! I’m not cheap!”

“I think about it all the time,” you admitted with a sigh. You stood from your chair and put your palms flat on your desk. “My guess is that Luthor had something on Dunst that made him settle for less.”

“That much less? You think so?”

“Wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t, Rahul,” you replied, walking to the door. You put a hand on the knob and looked to your team. “Wish me luck.”

“With what, getting a meeting? You will probably get a meeting. It may be a month from now though.”

You rolled your eyes and left the office. Your nerds were lucky you held them so dear.

'Act like you’re meant to be in every room you enter,’ is what your grandmother always said. It was advice that had served you well. So, keeping that in mind, you strolled out of the elevator and up to the front desk of the CEO’s floor. She had the entire floor to herself. The assistant at the front desk greeted you.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked.

“No, I’m here to make an appointment actually.”

“Okay, and what would you like to see Amy about?”

Your brows furrowed. “Amy? No, I’m here to schedule a meeting with Lena Luthor.”

“Oh,” the assistant paused, at first she refused to look at you. Then, she sheepishly gritted her teeth with her bottom lip curled downward in a weird pout. “Then you’ll need to make an appointment with Amy, Ms. Luthor’s assistant.”

“What?” You were flabbergasted, surely you’d heard her wrong. “Are you saying that I have to make an appointment to make an appointment?”

“Yes, would you like me to schedule you an appointment now?” She said it like it wasn’t incredibly ridiculous.

“I need an appointment with Luthor’s assistant in order to make an appointment with Ms. Luthor herself. That’s lunacy. I’m not feeding into Lena Luthor’s narcissism.” Ignoring the young woman’s attempts to stop you, you walked back towards the corner office with the wide window. There, Lena’s personal assistant was already standing in front of Luthor’s office door.

Holding your hands up defensively, you said, “Easy, I’m not trying to bust in. But I am not going to waste my time. I need an appointment with Ms. Luthor. It’s about Cyclical.”

“I can’t - you have to arrange a scheduling meeting with me. Then we will sit down and find a time for you. Ms. Luthor’s schedule is extremely full., so it takes a while to find an opening in her agenda.”

“Have to maneuver around galas and benefits?” It wasn’t the assistant’s fault you were perturbed. She didn’t make the ridiculous rules even if it seemed like she enjoyed them. “Humor me and I’ll leave.”

As the assistant began to protest, the door to the CEO’s office opened. Ms. Luthor herself stood in the doorway. She looked at you with a curious brow. There was no annoyance in her expression, she appeared inquisitive.

“Everything alright, Amy?” Lena asked.

“I’m sorry, ma'am. She is refusing to make a scheduling appointment.”

“An old company custom I’ve asked you to forget.” Lena’s voice was kind, she wasn’t scolding, but she was certainly firm in her approach. “Are you in a meeting now, Amy?”

Amy, the assistant, shook her head, “No, ma'am.”

“Then schedule her for Thursday evening. I had a cancellation, didn’t I?”

You wanted to interject and declare that you did not do business past five, but Lena addressed you.

“I hope you don’t mind a late meeting. I’ve been meaning to meet with you, but my schedule doesn’t permit me to spend a lot of time with anyone. Dinner meetings are often the longest amount of time I can devote to one person.”

“You don’t need to spare so much time for me, Ms. Luthor. I can be succinct.”

“You can call me, Lena.”

“Lena,” you amended. “I really need a few minutes to talk about my team from Cyclical. There’s no need to set aside an entire night.” You did not want to be tied up with a dinner meeting. It distressed you to think of yourself sitting across from someone like Lena Luthor in what was most likely a stuffy restaurant with ridiculous food like lobster bisque foam puffs. It sounded terrible.

“Consider it my request then. We acquired Cyclical over a month ago and I’ve barely spoken to any of you. You can help me get to know you all.”

It sounded too good to be true. Maybe dinner meetings were how she got dirt on your former CEO. You really didn’t know why you were all sold for so much less than you were worth. You worked with people who were experts in manipulating anti-matter. Their knowledge alone was invaluable.

Lena could think you would tattle on yourself or your people, but you would use your time to tell the Luthor woman how much she needed her new company and its nerds - your nerds.

“Very well,” you said, “I know better than to turn down a business dinner, provided the company is paying, Ms. Luthor?” You quickly corrected for her benefit, “Lena. Provided the company is paying, Lena.”

Lena was amused by the boldness of your response and she laughed. “I’ll see you Thursday. Amy will email you to confirm a time once she has made a reservation.”

You thanked both the CEO and assistant and took your leave without any additional fuss or requests. You hadn’t the desire to stick around. Your employees were likely creating a list of demands that you needed to oversee. They were right in their frustrations, but there was still a working relationship to preserve. Tact was necessary.

As the week went on, you began to grumble about the meeting. You didn’t grumble to anyone but yourself, but at least someone heard your perturbed view of dinner meetings. You’d opted to stay in your office until you were meant to meet Lena at the restaurant. There was no sense in going home, being lured into comfort, only to have to get up and go out again. Staying in your office meant that you’d stay in 'work’ mode and since your meeting was an extension of work and not a fun night out.

Just when you were going to leave for the restaurant, a man positioned by the door greeted you. You’d seen him around before, he was a chauffeur for the company. When he professed that he was waiting for you, you immediately began waving your hand. “I have my own car.”

“Ms. Luthor thought it would be appropriate to offer you ride accommodations this evening.”

You squinted at him. Was she trying to woo you or conduct a business meeting? “I appreciate it,” you said, remembering your manners. “But I rather take my car so that I can leave the meeting and go directly home.”

“Very well, ma'am.”

Once you arrived at the restaurant, Lena was already in the booth. 'She looked polished and sophisticated’ is what you’d tell your employees. You would refrain from stating that Lena looked, 'hot as fuck’. It was the reality, however, and it made you feel guilty for wearing the same outfit you’d had on for nearly twelve hours. She had obviously changed for the meeting. You hadn’t expected as such. You’d never change for a meeting.

“Hello,” Lena greeted. “I hope sending a car wasn’t too presumptuous. I wanted you to feel welcome, but as you were on your way, I realized that sending a man you didn’t know to 'pick you up’ might seem a bit…”

“Like a plot to a corporate espionage film?” you offered.

Lena’s face lit up like you read her mind, “Yes, like something that would be a three-part miniseries on HBO.” Her eyes were big as she spoke. She really let you get a good look at the green color of her irises. You hadn’t realized they were green before then.

“Yeah, and dads would love it. Sounds awful.”

Lena laughed. She was good, she was already attempting to make you feel comfortable in her presence. You hadn’t done the research into Lena so much as you had looked into the company itself. If Lena had gone to business school, you didn’t know. As you sat across from her, you realized how little you knew about the person who was your boss. Sure, there were higher-ups between you, but she could fire you if she wanted. You probably should have at least gotten Rahul to tell you about his findings. He’d shared them with everyone else. For some ridiculous reason, you wanted to be above what you saw as gossip.

Now you were in a negotiation with someone you didn’t know. You knew Lena through her business decisions, and that would have to do.

“I’m glad that we could take some time for each other,” Lena said. “I like getting to know my department heads; especially the women. We all go through much of the same experiences, and I like being able to share them with each other.”

You’d hear something similar before. You had bosses that were women, ones that said they were “all for girl power.” It was despicable how many of them were actually working for the man. They’d sell anyone down the river if it meant looking like an exception to a boy’s club. If Lena was being honest, you would be excited to work with her. If she was trying to goad you into a false sense of security, you wouldn’t let her succeed.

“I’m sure you’ve experienced a lot. L-Corp’s history is unique. You don’t see many businesses which this many,” you waved your hand as if to conjure the words, “volatile and unpredictable subsidiaries.”

Lena’s eyes were wide as she nodded, “Yeah, you probably think I’m crazy, but I like to be on the cutting edge.”

“You released a lot of companies when you took over.”

Her wide eyes closed, you’d thrown salt into a wound you hadn’t realized was open. “My brother had acquired some companies that I no longer wanted to associate with. I felt that it would be better to either dissolve them or go to court over ending their contracts early. So, I bought them outright and dissolved them. I kept some of the technology, much of it was viable, but it had been used in ways I didn’t agree with.”

“Did you keep any of those employees?” You wondered how she felt about those who actually needed to work for a living. Lena didn’t have to work for a living; so if she worked, it was because she wanted to. You couldn’t fault her there. Working made you feel fulfilled too. Your grandmother didn’t approve.

'Some, but many of them were…“ Lena sighed, "Just how much do you know about my brother?”

“Probably not as much as you think I do. I find personal lives to be off-limits, or rather, I prefer someone to tell me about themselves. I don’t want spoilers.”

That was only a half-truth. You didn’t mind the occasional spoiling. You knew the general gist of what Lex Luthor was in prison for. It wasn’t good, and it would have affected more than National City or his Metropolis. Everyone would have suffered at the hands of Lex Luthor. Above that, you didn’t know him from anyone else. He could be in the restaurant, even serving your table, and you wouldn’t know.

You were beginning to feel like you missed a lot of crucial information, but Lena’s relieved sigh made you think your lack of knowledge might have been beneficial.

Much of the dinner was what you’d describe as 'chat,’ but Lena pulled you in. She’d succeeded in making you feel comfortable cross from her. It wasn’t her beauty alone, you’d negotiated with good-looking people before. Lena had a personality. You weren’t sure if it was real, or if she had carefully cultivated a persona to endear herself to others. It was a good persona if that were the case. You had respect for business people that found a way to make themselves personable to everyone. She clearly knew what you wanted her to say as she said all of the right things. In fact, she said so many appropriate comments and statements that you suspected she’d done her research on you.

There was a chance, you hated to admit, that you and Lena Luthor weren’t so dissimilar. Your title was 'manager,’ but you weren’t on her level, and you didn’t want to be. You liked having your area of expertise, and you also liked being able to go home at the end of the day. You enjoyed leaving work and truly leaving work. Lena seemed the type to carry work with her wherever she went. Perhaps those parties you’d judged her for were not as enjoyable for her as you assumed.

Still, she did seem to go to a lot. You hadn’t been invited to one yet.

Towards the end of the dinner, that changed.

“I’d like to get to know more about your employees. I wish I could take time with them all, but it’s amazing that I was able to see you so quickly. I’m glad of course.” Lena took a moment to consider how to pitch her idea. “I would like to throw a party. It would be for the company to meet your team, but also for everyone to meet each other. I’m sure there’s plenty of people who haven’t met their coworkers.”

You couldn’t laugh, and you couldn’t smile. It would take too much explanation, and it would only end up making you look like an ass. “That seems nice, but I was hoping we could talk about some of the challenges my team has faced in this past month.”

“Challenges?” Lena asked, she seemed concerned.

She listened. She didn’t interrupt you, and any question she asked was relevant and respectful. Of course, she couldn’t promise you much while you were sat at a dinner table versus her laptop. She couldn’t promise you anything really, not without consulting some other pencil pusher about the cost. It was more than you expected, and Lena was more understanding than you’d assumed. Or perhaps, she was a very good liar.

Most business people were.

When the meeting was over, you and Lena stood outside the restaurant. She noticed the way you shivered in the night air. Like she was in fact, attempting to woo you, Lena took her scarf and put it around your neck. You stood awkwardly as she did so.

“That’s a good color on you,” she complimented.

If she was an older man, you’d be disgusted. You’d be looking for a new job the moment you got home. But Lena’s kindness read genuine. She was rich, you knew she was, but material things mattered very little. Your comfort seemed to matter more than Lena’s ownership of the scarf as she told you to keep it before her car rolled up.

“I will have Amy contact you next week. We’ll need to find a day for this party we’re planning.”

“We? As in you and your assistant?”

Lena laughed as she entered her car. “Amy doesn’t know what your employees will like. I mean you and me, 'we’.”

You knew she did, but you needed to hear her say it. Your employees would be glad that Lena seemed receptive, but you hadn’t a clue as to what they’d say about an expected work party. If they were like you, they’d be revolted.

Although, it would be a lie to insist that you weren’t a little excited to see Lena Luthor again. She was quickly becoming the most interesting person you knew; you needed to figure her out.

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted as a part of my Pilot Week 'event' on my Tumblr. This series as well as seven other series were created based on reader surveys! For more information, check out my Tumblr!


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